Tomato Recipes

A tian is a Mediterranean dish, more specifically from Provence, which consists of thinly sliced vegetables slowly roasted in the oven. It could be made with any seasonally available ingredients such as artichokes, asparagus, eggplant, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, celery or mushrooms. I've also seen it made with meat or fish as well, but today I made a version that is very popular. It consists of garlic, tomatoes and zucchini, which happen to be fresh from our garden.

I arranged the three ingredients in a terra cotta dish and drizzled on a little olive oil with freshly chopped herbs. The dish is very easy to prepare, and tastes as good as it looks. If you love cooking with farm fresh ingredients, don't forget to check out Full Circle. We're giving away one box this week. One lucky winner will get a free box of organic farm fresh home-delivered produce. To enter, just type your name and email address into the box below. The winner can choose any size box. The largest Full Circle offers is Harvest, which is $42 in CA, $45 in WA/ID, and $56 in AK (shipping not included outside of Anchorage).

My husband Lulu planted 19 types of tomato plants and we're picking more tomatoes than we can possibly eat. It took Lulu and his youngest sister almost 2 hours to pick 11 pounds of Sungold, Sweet Million and San Marzano tomatoes. They also brought in 4 very flavorful red onions. If you know me, you know I hate when food goes to waste, so I made tomato sauce out of necessity.

I got the girls involved and asked them to stem and cut the tomatoes and onions. It didn't take much effort, especially with the help of my strong, toned and muscular (since they've become my morning workout buddies) sisters-in-law. It doesn't take many ingredients to make a delicious thick tomato sauce. I used exactly 7; tomatoes of course, garlic, red onions, fresh thyme, basil, salt and Bhut Jolokia Ghost Pepper Sauce that I received from my friend JD Cowles (check out my product review) at All Spice Cafe. I deep-fried large morsels of fresh garlic, caramelized the onions and stewed the tomatoes for 1½ hours. I haven't tried canning tomato sauce yet because of a fear of botulism, but this time it wasn't even necessary since all the tomato sauce was so good it was gone after two meals!

Though my intention in making these mini bruschetta was to provide a healthy and appealing snack for kids, they aren't the only ones who'll enjoy these tasty treats! My husband Lulu, who at times acts like a kid himself, greatly appreciated them too. But really, who could resist garlic-rubbed toasted bread topped with a mixture of chopped ripe tomatoes, fresh garlic, fresh basil, black pepper and extra-virgin olive oil? All you really need are fresh, quality ingredients and little helpers to assemble them!

This is another recipe that I prepared with Lilea from California Lavash a while back. If you'd like to try some delicious bread from California Lavash, Pham Fatale will be hosting a giveaway soon. Stay tuned!

My husband Lulu's little nieces from Oakland are staying with us for a week. I'm going to make their favorite dishes and we prepared a lot of fun activities so they have a memorable stay with us. This morning, we took several large baskets and they helped me pick fruits and vegetables for lunch. We gathered so many tomatoes, I decided to make tomato sauce to store for the winter. But as I was preparing mac and cheese for the children in the evening, I changed my mind and added the tomato sauce to a modified version of the kid-friendly dish.

I spread a layer of tomato sauce at the bottom of the dish and also flavored the béchamel sauce with fire-roasted tomatoes. They impart a light sweetness and pleasant tanginess that complements the flavors of the cheese and sauce very well. So not only did I coerce the kids into going outside to do a physical activity, I also snuck some veggies into a dish they can’t resist. Pham Fatale indeed!

What makes this pasta primavera so flavorful is that the vegetables are roasted, so their natural sweetness bursts and they remain the main focus of the dish. I cooked onions, zucchini and summer squash until they caramelized, then added a variety of colorful tomatoes. I boiled some spaghetti on the side and as soon as it was cooked, I tossed the pasta with the roasted vegetables and topped it off with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

You could prepare this dish with any kind of vegetable or herb, but I just used what was ripe in our garden. And it tasted fantastic! Who ever said healthy and tasty couldn't go hand in hand?